14858622_10154652394104710_675944171_o

  1. NOLIFE – ‘Unkind

Unkind‘ is a noisy experimental blast from mysterious New York producer NOLIFE, who got recently signed to the always prolific label Young Turks. This one is a killer track from the geniusly titled debut EP ‘You Won’t Survive The State Of New York‘ which is out today!

Christos Doukakis

  1. Habitants – ‘Meraki

This is an amazing surprise! Habitants from Nijmegen in Netherlands released their first ever song on 1st March, an amazing song excellent arranged that gave me the chills! Habitants actually are…The Gathering (historic and most respected act from Netherlands)! Rene (gtr) and Hans (drums) Rutten from The Gathering, also  guest vocalist Anne Van Den Hoogen in The Gathering’s ‘The West Pole‘ 2009 LP, formed that brand new band and released their first song. As you understand, quality in music, performance and sound is datum, considering the members’ past. ‘Meraki‘ is a post-rock gem blended with atmospheric, dynamic melodies along with soft and heavy electronic and organic beats, and the “expected” guitar work involved! An amazing song that you have to listen, enjoy!

Mike Dimitriou

  1. Novella – ‘Change Of State

Certainly one the freshest and imaginative album of the first part of year is the  sophomore full length, titled ‘Change Of State’, from Brighton, relocated to London, indie pop, but more properly genre-defying, quartet Novella.

After their unadulterated, but still immature, lovely debut ‘Land’ in 2015, the band, ‘back-to-basics’ of an old 1960’s 8-track, have magnificently found the perfect balance, melding Haight-Ashbury and early Pink Floyd psych suggestions, Velvets’ dissonances and 90’s kraut-pop elements and channelling all into their own, still in progress, personal sonic path.

The album title track is a captivating example of their ecstatic, but at the same time challenging sound,  driving “motorik” backdrop beats, pulsating groovy bass lines, mesmerizing ear-catching vocal melodies, psychedelic, at times tense, guitars chords, building some emotionally heartfelt-feeling of sheer aural pleasure.

A song, a whole album, started out as a reaction against a claustrophobic and demeaning society as individualistic and small-minded as ever, that could be a metaphorical hint that only from a return to the simple things and a boundary-free imagination will grow a real authentic art and bring back hopes of an eagerly-awaited ‘change of state’.

Fabrizio Lusso

  1. Bewitched As Dark – ‘Vanishing Dreams

There she is again! Dear Bendis from Istanbul aka Bewitched As Dark, with her brand new track, released on 2nd March. That lady is a never-ending music machine, releasing her music very often like a breeding star. ‘Vanishing Dreams‘ is one of her typical musings, dark electronica EBM oriented that nailed me! A down tempo tune by synthetic chords and distorted batteries (all electronic drums) that unveil a hypnotic “amanes” (traditonal Turkish chant) in the middle, to engage a raging climax ’till the end where distortions become even and the beat goes more intense. It is an amazing  track where you won’t believe how it ends, being very “polite” in the beginning and proceeding into a “total destruction” near its closure, certainly made for dancing!

Mike Dimitriou

  1. Aegri Somnia – ‘C.A.H.R.’

Aegri Somnia is back! The latest album by this field recordings expert takes us into the thick of a world gone wrong. The apocalypse is already underway and humanity is in its death throes. ‘Endtime Psalms‘ gives us a key to the first person perspective of this miserable era. Aegri Somnia is a master of his trade, and on the opening track ‘C.A.H.R.‘ we are immediately cast into the thick smoke-filled atmosphere, where death and decay are all around. The rain eats at the skin like an sulphuric acid bath as the taste of the now irradiated food stores burn blisters upon the tongue. Footsteps are heard traversing the destruction as the gods weep from above, lamenting their failed experiment that is humanity. These devastated grounds are not to be tread lightly. But for those who relish in the downfall, there is no better simulation.

Michael Barnett

 

Compiled by Christos Doukakis, Mike Dimitriou, Fabrizio Lusso & Michael Barnett